Mo’orea

Our main stay in Tahiti was not in Tahiti itself, but on the neighbouring island of Mo’orea, half an hour’s ferry journey from Tahiti.

We spent four days on Moorea at the Intercontinental Resort, four days intended to be given over to rest and relaxation, and to admiring all the Polynesian maidens in their grass skirts doing hula hula dances.

Well, we did not see many Tahitian maidens in grass skirts, but it was lovely and warm (we were in the tropics) we did a lot of swimming in the swimming pools, soaking up the sun.

Wendy admiring some fruit growing on the trees in the grounds.

Here we are crossing over to Mo’orea in the evening showing the mountainous nature of the island. It is in effect a huge ancient volcano where the central cone has been blown off leaving jagged edges round the rim

I don’t think I had ever seen such jagged peaks as existed on Moorea. This photo was taken when we rented a car and ventured out into the Belvedere in the interior of the island, but it shows perhaps the most spectacular of the many jagged peaks.

We stayed at the Intercontinental Resort and Spa on Mo’orea. This was laid out in a sort of French/ Tahitian style: this is the entrance that faced us when we arrived.

The resort is set round a lagoon, large pool with various bungalows set around the lagoon and over the water

Here are some of the over the water bungalows.

I think they are much favoured by honeymoon couples where they could indulge their passions and nobody would hear them.

A honeymoon couple, strolling by the lagoon?

We could not afford over the water bungalows which were hugely expensive, so we stayed instead in the hotel part, two blocks of rooms set in a shallow curve, one side overlooking the swimming pool and the other, on which we were situated, looking down to the lagoon.

The gardens were beautifully maintained.

And there was a beautiful girl sunbathing by the side of the lagoon

And here is the beach. It was a bit disappointing, as I think that the actual beach was artificial, in that the sand had been dumped over underlying rocks, so though the actual sandy part was fine, when you went into the water, the seabed was rocky and one had to wear swimming shoes which I found a little bit offputting, though I managed to buy some at the shop at the entrance to the resort.

There was however a splendid swimming pool, seen here with the hotel rooms in the background. It was a lovely long swimming pool where Wendy did many lengths and I sunbathed around the periphery.

A lovely lady in her bikini was sunbathing by the swimming pool

Attached to the resort there was a dolphin enclosure where they had a couple of tame dolphins imprisoned. It was possible to take lessons and swim with the dolphins who were said to be very lovely and cuddly and ideal for honeymoon couples ‘to express their romantic feelings’. I somehow did not really approve of this, but the dolphin pool seemed very successful. The Dolphins were evidently well trained and were prepared to leap out of the water at the trainer’s command.

And here is sunset over the lagoon

On our last day we hired a car and went to do some archaeology and discover some prehistoric temples, the Marae